Striding Arches

Distance	Approximate Time	Height Gain	OS Map
6/9 kms	2/3 hours	0 metres	Explorer 328

Description

THE four Striding Arches, set in the wild and unspoilt Scottish landscape of the Southern Uplands, Dumfries and Galloway, were conceived and instigated near his home, by international environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy as a place for everyone to visit, to explore and to enjoy.

Formally opened in autumn 2008, the Cairnhead Community Forest Trust and the Forestry Commission welcome visitors to this world class site. Everyone now has permanent, free, open access to the arches and the forest and its creatures all year round and will finally be able to explore the dramatic landscape and see Goldsworthy's work in the context of the environment which he walks and works in.

The Arches
Andy Goldsworthy explains: "This work is about the social nature of landscape. Landscape is a very vigorous, powerful, challenging subject to deal with and people are very much part of it." Formed from hand-dressed blocks of red sandstone from a nearby quarry, each arch stands just under four metres high, with a span of about seven metres. Each arch weighs approximately 27 tons, consists of 31 blocks and is totally self-supporting.

The sites for the arches were carefully chosen, reflecting Goldsworthy's intimate knowledge of the landscape, so that from each of the hilltop arches, the other two arches would be visible, thus acting as markers in the landscape and interacting with the viewer and each other. However, they do not dominate the landscape, instead they meld into it, become part of it, in an animalistic way. Sometimes obvious and exciting, at other times during a walk, camouflaged in the landscape so that one has to look hard along the horizon line to locate the curve against the sky.

The Walks
The routes with maps, described on the information panel by the car park or on the website www.stridingarches.com, offer a variety of walks depending on levels of fitness, time and experience. Visitors can choose from a series of walks to any of the arches striding the hilltops, or follow the truly beautiful Dalwhat water walk through the glen, collecting texts from letterboxes to make up a Renga poem written by artist Alec Finlay.

The walk to the highest arch which sits on top of Colt Hill at 598m, offers spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and a sightline of the other arches. This 6 mile walk from the car park takes the visitor along a paved forestry road for most of the way. It is an easy and enjoyable way of seeing the landscape and the wildlife. This route meets up with the famous Southern Upland way just before the peak.

Rugged walking, across the hilltops from arch to arch offers the experienced walker a challenging hike across 10 miles of rugged terrain. Being Forestry Commission land, experienced walkers are free to explore anywhere within the 1347 hectare forest,
following the ancient drovers road or the newer forest tracks. One walker commented: "As you journey between the hills, the arches appear and disappear and the landscape opens out. The views are amazing and the air is good enough to eat. It's a fantastic experience".

The arch at Benbrack strides the famous Southern Upland Way offering walkers a way mark on this long section of the route from Sanquhar to Dalry.

The walks and the arches themselves provide a way into a secret part of Scotland's wilderness, away from busy roads and 21st Century life, yet within only 7 miles of the picturesque town of Moniaive with its excellent caf�, a pub and choice of accommodation.

Heritage and human history
The Byre with its arch striding right through it and its grassy meadow, offers a perfect picnic place and time to contemplate the human history of the area - the people who made a living from farming the land. Amongst intriguing stone carvings here, commissioned from Pip Hall for the project, is a stone bench. This is inscribed with the names and dates of families who once lived in the six settlements in the area, stretching back over the last 500 years. Their names are accompanied by motifs depicting objects that would have been part of their everyday lives: a sickle, a scythe, a crook, a cornstook, a turnip, a chicken, a spade.

Wildlife
There are many birds, animals and plants to be seen at Cairnhead. In areas of mature forest, you may well see red squirrels and small birds such as the coal tit, siskin and crossbill, as well as birds that have adapted to this habitat including song thrushes and goldcrests. Look into the sky and you may spot a buzzard or goshawk hunting in the young plantations and at the forest edge. Red deer and roe deer roam through the trees, taking advantage of the cover they provide.

The clear waters of Dalwhat Water and the numerous small burns and ditches feeding it from the hills support an enormous variety of insects. Keep a look out, in summer, for damselflies and the golden-ringed dragonfly. The high quality of Dalwhat Water itself makes it an important nursery habitat for Atlantic salmon: adult fish swim up the river Nith and then the river Cairn to reach it during late autumn/early winter, laying their eggs in gravel nests known as 'redds'. Juvenile salmon remain in the burn for two to three years before migrating to sea.

General Summary
Due to the way in which Striding Arches mediates with the landscape, the project is an important addition to environmental art and a personal response by Goldsworthy to the landscape in which he lives and works. It is the
first public installation of Andy Goldsworthy's work for Scotland and is unique in Europe. It builds on the significant public art installations already in Dumfries and Galloway at Glenkilns and the Galloway Forest Park to name but two.

Striding Arches has a broad appeal for all ages and interest groups from walkers and birdwatchers, to art lovers, the family looking for the perfect picnic spot and a gentle stroll along the river or for those simply wanting to escape 21st century life in the wilderness with a good meal and a comfortable bed at the end of the day.

Access Info

Cairnhead Forest lies at the upper end of Glencairn Parish in Dumfries & Galloway in south-west Scotland among the Southern Uplands some six miles up Dalwhat Glen north-west of Moniaive.